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Help and advice for GLOUCESTERSHIRE

If you have found a problem on this page then please report it on the following form. We will then do our best to fix it. If you are wanting advice then the best place to ask is on the area's specific email lists. All the information that we have is in the web pages, so please do not ask us to supply something that is not there. We are not able to offer a research service.

If you wish to report a problem, or contribute information, then do use the following form to tell us about it.

GLOUCESTERSHIRE

ARCHIVES AND LIBRARIES

This page contains information about the location and use of Archives and Libraries for Gloucestershire-related family history research. Generally speaking, Archives (more commonly known as Record Offices) are repositories for original source material, such as Wills or Parish Registers, whereas the Local Studies Sections of Libraries are where you'd expect to find the Census, and printed local source material, such as Trade Directories. If you're looking for assistance by post or email in Gloucestershire, the Gloucestershire Archives provides a Research Service. Note: the Record Office also provides access to resources for Local Studies, eg Census, Directories, Newspapers. If nothing less than a personal visit will suffice, more detailed information, and some useful comments based on our own experiences, are offered below.

There are about 30 parishes listed as Towns & Parishes in Gloucestershire, for which original records may be found elsewhere. These are usually on the county border, and were either formerly in Gloucestershire and now in an adjoining county, or have moved to Gloucestershire from an adjoining county. The associated Record Offices are:

Details of the appropriate repository are provided on individual parish pages under the Archives and Libraries section. See also the ARCHON (Archives On-Line) Information service for locations of other Record Offices throughout the country. Specific contents of the above Record Office Catalogues are searchable independently using the Access to Archives Database. This is a valuable resource - whilst the original records are not available online, some of the catalogue entries may be a revelation in their own right - for example there are lists of Parish Chest papers (Settlement, Removal, &c.) available at Bristol sufficiently informative to obviate the need to consult the original archive.

Several Public Libraries in Gloucestershire have selections of reference material of interest to family historians, including copies of newspapers, and a selection of Crockford's Clerical Directories. Visit Gloucestershire Library Service webpage for more details. The Gloucestershire Collection of Local Studies reference material, formerly in the Gloucester Public Library moved in January 2006, and is now at the Gloucestershire Archives Office.